Gonzalez Port Chester Daily Voice Athlete Of The Month

Goalie Jose Gonzalez, who led the Port Chester varsity boys' soccer team to the New York State Class A final, is The Port Chester Daily Voice Student-Athlete of the month.Photo Credit: Courtesy Port Chester High School Athletics

PORT CHESTER, N.Y. – Jose Gonzalez and his Port Chester High School teammates started their 2012 varsity soccer season with unfinished business.

After losing the 2011 Section 1 Class A title game last year, the Rams, led by goalie Gonzalez, won the title this year and made history by becoming the first Port Chester varsity sports team to play for a state championship.

Gonzalez, who was instrumental in the Rams’ success, has been selected as the Port Chester Daily Voice Student-Athlete of the Month.

“We just wanted it bad this year,” said Gonzalez, who plans to play in college. “We wanted to finish what we started last year and do it for the seniors on the team last year.”

Gonzalez, a four-year varsity player, finished with 16 shutouts and a 0.50 goals against average. He was an all-section and all-state selection.

“Jose was the backbone of our defense and the leader of our team,” Port Chester coach John Cafaldo said. “He was looked up to by all of the players in the program in his four years as a varsity player.

“Jose is a hard worker on and off the soccer field and he will be deeply missed by our entire soccer program.”

Gonzalez said Port Chester came into the season as an underdog so that made the Rams even more determined to win the section title.

“Nobody expected us to get where we were with all the seniors we lost to graduation,” Gonzalez said. “We wanted to prove people wrong and that motivated us.”

Gonzalez, who plans to major in secondary education/math, says he'll never forget this soccer season.

“It felt great because I'm playing with a great group of guys many of them I have known and been playing with since I was six,” Gonzalez said.